I just got my first purchase from Makeup Geek, a cruelty-free indie makeup brand that describes itself as “professional quality at affordable prices”.
I believe I first learned about Makeup Geek on Phyrra.net. Not surprisingly, I learned about the 40% off sale on makeupgeek.com a couple of weeks ago on Phyrra’s Facebook group. Turns out there’s another 40% off sale going on right now that is hard to resist. But while I try to restrain myself from trying more products from the brand, let me show you what I got.
When I received my order and opened up the package, I quickly looked at the shades – it was in the evening and rather dark, and I thought, What did I do? I bought all the same shades! When I looked again, and when I swatched the 4 shadows, it wasn’t true, thank goodness, though you probably could say that three of them are sort of in the same shade family, gray. At the very least, 3 of the 4 are neutrals.
They say that gray makes blue-gray eyes like mine look bluer. I wear a lot of gray and black, so gray is a useful shade for me. But I didn’t go to the Makeup Geek site and look for all the gray shades. Each of these shades jumped out at me on their own merits. Let’s take a look!
- Graphite is a medium gray matte. This will be a useful shade for me either on the lid, in the crease or V. I don’t do smokey eyes very often, but Graphite would be a better choice for me than black.
- Rebel is a purple and gold shimmer shadow that when you combine the two shades reads gray. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.
- Moondust is a metallic silver taupe that can look grayish in certain light, but it mostly reads bronze. I think it truly is magical on the lids. It’s cool-toned, and it helps make blue eyes pop. Love this shade.
- Insomnia is definitely not any kind of gray. It’s a red-brown and teal duochrome. MUG describes it as “a warm red brown with blue reflects and a foiled finish”. It’s pretty darn spectacular!
All of the Makeup Geek shadow singles that I bought are buttery, highly – and I mean highly – pigmented, as well as easy to apply and blend. In fact, I was so excited to swatch them when I got them, that I finger swatched them.
And then, I didn’t use a brush or any eye primer; I just swatched them with my fingers on my arm. That’s why they’re not perfect. I have never done that before – skipped the primer and the brush for swatches. These shades are INTENSE! I was too excited by the shades to wait 😉
But to make sure they are long wearing, I apply them on my eyes over primer. They don’t crease, and they stay on till I remove them. BTW, they’re not powdery, and they don’t have any fallout as far as I can tell. In this pic, I’m wearing Moondust.
The four shades I bought are regularly priced at $6 each for 1.8G / 0.064 oz. I picked up the 4 shadows for $14.40, and I think the shipping was $2.95. They’re now happily settled in a magnetic palette that I got from Beauty Junkees.
My only nitpick is that I don’t love the way they’re packaged. They come in pretty cardboard sleeves with plastic on the inside of the outer packaging to protect the shadow. However, when you take the pan out, it’s easy for the inner cardboard casing to nick the buttery powder in the pan. I vastly prefer the way that ColourPop puts their shadow singles in a protective recyclable plastic case inside the outer cardboard packaging.
Hard to resist buying more during this 40% off sale, but I must stay strong. Also, I have to investigate their relationship to Amazon. You can add each MUG item to either an Amazon Wish List or Gift List with an easy click on the MUG product page. I am wondering if Makeup Geek products qualify for free Amazon Prime shipping? Hmmm, I’m guessing that they might, but then I’d probably lose the 40% off MUG sale. Such a dilemma!
Have you tried Makeup Geek? What are your MUG favorites?
The ingredients (without the colors) for the MUG shadows include: Mica, PTFE, Zinc Stearate, Silica, Isoeicosane, Polyisobutene, Lauroyl Lysine, Dimethicone, Boron Nitride, Polyethylene, Phenoxyethanol, Nylon-12, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Sorbic Acid, Sodium Dehydroacetate, Magnesium Stearate, Talc, Ethylhexyl Palmitate, Ethylene/Acrylic Acid Copolymer, Poloxamer, Synthetic Wax, Tin Oxide, Kaolin, Triethylhexanoin, Hydrogenated Lecithin, Tocopheryl Acetate, Caprylyl Glycol, Hexylene Glycol, Calcium Sodium Borosilicate, Ethylhexylgycerin, Synthetic Sapphire, Calcium Aluminum Borosilicate, C13-16 Isoparaffin, Octadecene, Stearyl Dimethicone
I won a giveaway that includes two MUG eyeshadows are they are brilliant! I definitely plan to buy more in the future and gosh, Insomnia is a stunner! I wonder if they are available through Amazon Canada? Time to find out!
I hope MUG is available thru Amazon CA!!
I also love MUG eye shadows. Have one of their magnetic palettes that is really nice. One of the shades I have is a duochrome with a pinkish lavender shift that is gorgeous.
The duochrome that you mentioned, Sandy, sounds lovely. I need to take a look and see if I can find it. I adore Insomnia, but truth be told, I don’t have that many opportunities to wear it here in exurban MA where most women don’t wear makeup! It would be great if there was a “softer” duochrome that I could try next.
I have been wanting to try them, and I no longer think that I can resist! Rebel and Moondust are my kind of shades!
Rebel and Moondust have become my go-tos. They are so wearable but have that extra bit of bling!
Allison a little tip you can buy “magnetic sheets” at you local craft store. You can get a plastic DVD/CD case and glue the magnetic sheet in the bottom of the case to store your eye shadows. Just another handy tip. Enjoy your day. Oh and my favorite one is the Insomnia love it. 😍🌸
That is a fantastic tip, DiEtta!! I never knew you could buy magnetic sheets. Thank you <3 I still have some more room in my magnetic palette, but when I finish it up. I will definitely do that. Though I don't have any DVD/CD cases, I have some heart-shaped boxes from V-days past that I've saved that would work nicely. Also for those who aren't crafty, Joann.com has a nice premade magnetic case on sale for $4.99 now http://www.joann.com/artbin-slim-line-magnetic-needle-case-raspberry/11362100.html#q=magnetic%2Bcase&start=1 Insomnia is incredible, but I must say here in the conservative boonies I don’t wear it as much as the others, 😥
You picked some gorgeous shades! I like MG eyeshadows, but don’t reach for mine nearly enough. I just might need to go see if there’s anything calling my name while the sale is still on.
Take out what you have and use them! I think MUG’s quality is amazing 🙂
These look really nice. I’ve tried some of their shadows, but most of the ones I got were not very good. Bitten is a great shade for my brows, though. I love their blushes and Celestial Highlighter (Phyrra got me lemming for that one, and I recently bought it).
Gee, that’s too bad that you weren’t happy with the MUG shadows you tried. Mine were so buttery, maybe they’ve improved the formula? Glad to hear that the blushes and highlighters were good for you. I may have to give them a try too!
It might have been the colors I chose, too. A lot of them were mattes. The shimmers were better.
I only chose one matte, Graphite, and it is nice, but it isn’t as buttery and fabulous as the shimmers. You are absolutely right
The shades you got look really pretty. Maybe in the future I’ll order some shimmers and give them another go.
I mixed my MUG in with other singles in a magnetic palette and I knick them every time I want to look at the name. So they just live happily in the palette and I go nameless. I love the look of Moondust but don’t have a clue if I own it or not!
LOl! Moondust is such a pretty bronze-y shade!
Moondust looks fabulous on your eyes!
Thank you, Cindy! I’ve been loving Rebel, the purple and gold shimmer, too
These shades look really great! I’ve got a few MUG shades I’m itching to buy, but half were already sold out.
Oh no!
Rebel is gorgeous! I’l have to pick it up!
I purchased several sets of Makeup Geek shadows and I agree that I don’t like how they come packaged. I haven’t tried ColourPop Pressed Shadow Singles so I don’t know how they’re packaged but I think she was aiming for packaging similar to MAC’s.
Oh, you’re right, Cassie! The packaging is like MACs. I haven’t bought a pressed powder single from MAC in a long time, so I forgot. I’m going to add a pic of the ColourPop plastic inner packaging to my post because not everyone will know what I am talking about!
All four look fantastic! They have a beautiful depth to them that makes the colors really interesting. I like the subtle reflections.
Thank you! Graphite, the matte gray, is good for everyday and for the crease, but the others are so lovely in person. As you said, “subtle reflections”!
Rebel & Moondust are beautiful! I haven’t tried anything from Makeup Geek yet.
I had been hearing about the brand for so long that when they had a sale I had to try them. Priced like ColourPop, it seemed like a good deal. I love what I got.